Brainstorming 2013 Together

I’m giving thought to possible blog series here at this intersection between God and life, and greatly appreciate your feedback. For your input: what from the below list most interests you?; what isn’t here that you’d like to see? what sort of series would you personally want to contribute to?; what are ways we together might generate more reader conversation?

I’ll be checking your comments today and throughout the week and interacting with your ideas, because they matter to me! Please drop some in the comments section below or send me a note: kristinarobbdover@gmail.com.

Starting this month, I’ll begin a year-long interview series with a handful of today’s “most influential evangelical women writers,” as named last fall by Christianity Today. The series, titled, There’s Power in the Pen, will give us the chance to meet and interact with several of these influential women writers, and hear a bit more about how they view the nature of their influence on the church and in the world. I’ll be particularly interested in exploring to what degree writing has given these women a voice and influence that they might not have otherwise found in mainstream, evangelical church culture…but what would you be interested in knowing? Leave your questions below.

We’ll also continue two series that we began last year. One of them, which we let stall, we’ll pick up again: Jesus Epithets: All the Names Jesus Gets Called in Scriptureis pretty self-explanatory. The other series, Christian Meteorology, we began in the fall as a way to keep a watchdog eye on all the ridiculous explanations we Christians can give for the weather. Any time you encounter something that qualifies, please send it along and we’ll post it. (A hint: usually a natural disaster turns up plenty of fodder.)

God on the Open Road will be a series of guest posts and other contributions (in the way of music, photos, etc) that will gear us up for the release of my forthcoming book, Grace Sticks: The Bumper Sticker Gospel for Restless Souls. I’ll invite you to submit your own reflections about all the surprising places (outside of church) that you have experienced God. This is an invitation to anyone and everyone, regardless of creed, who in showing up at this intersection has something to share about God at work in their own life’s comings and goings. Several of the restless souls whose reflections I hope to include are a trucker, a young woman in her 20’s trying to find her soul’s delight, a seeker, a “spiritual but not religious” groupie- maybe even someone like Anne Rice, who has left the church but remains captivated by Jesus. But there’s much creativity to be had here. Got any other restless souls you’d add to this mix, whose experiences of God on the open road you’d like to hear? Maybe you’re one of them. Send me a submission (250-500 words) at kristinarobbdover@gmail.com. I’m all ears.

Bible’s Biggest Losers will look at all of Scripture’s underdogs- and there are many. Many of you weighed in with your vote for “Biggest Loser” in a recent Facebook query, from the gals who get it rough, like Eve, Hagar and Mary, the mother of Jesus, to poor guys like Esau, Job and Judas. We’ll get to know them a bit, with a view to discovering what, if any, Good News might be had from their stories.

The Good Enough Mother is a phrase my spiritual director taught me; it’s also a more fitting title for a series that I almost considered calling Aslan Mother (a play on the term, Tiger Mom, which many of us are familiar with). But at stake here is how faith informs motherhood at that juncture where we all fall short of perfection. I’ll be inviting you to submit guest posts about your own experiences as part of another write-off, and we’ll also be hearing from some of the many talented mommy bloggers out there who have much wisdom to share with us about slaying the enemy of perfectionism on a host of parenting issues.

Other series I’m enthusiastic about including:

– Ask the Scientist…this would be an occasional column from Harvard trained neuroscientist, Dr. Saskia de Vries, fielding some of your questions with respect to faith and science and asking some of her own.

– Color Me Heaven (taking as inspiration the heavenly picture painted by John, the writer of Revelation, of people from many tribes gathering to worship God) would be a collection of stories and/or interviews of people from the Majority World about how they have witnessed God at work in their lives.

– Greater Things Than These…that perplexing line from Scripture (how, afterall, could Jesus’ disciples do greater things than Jesus Himself?) invites some reflection about what Jesus really means here, and how, if at all, we’ve experienced this to be true in our own lives, churches and world. We might be surprised, too, by the answer.

– Storytime with Don Miller…I just love what Don is doing in the form of his project, “Storyline,” and once a month or so would love to highlight one of the more memorable stories he has run across. Of course, this is a long shot- anyone know Don well-enough to ask?- but, since we’re dreaming right now, Storytime with Don Miller would make a great series.

– Saints and Sinners’ Hall of Fame would be a fun, light-hearted way to celebrate and vote on the top ten saints and sinners of our time; your submissions here would be welcome!

Writing Sabbatical—and "The Departure of the Prodigal Son"I'm sorry: my absenteeism at this intersection can be attributed to a number of things lately, the most pressing of which is my forthcoming book with author and Christian addiction specialist Jonathan Benz. The book (Prodigal Church or a version of it) is now officially under deadline and by April 1